A resonant and unsettling fantasy steeped in small-town Mexican culture.
In Barnes’ debut YA novel, a Mexican teenager takes up witchcraft in an attempt to lift a curse placed on her grandmother.
Lucinda Eco, 15, lives in modern-day Punta Colonet, a small town with dirt roads and no streetlights in Baja California North, Mexico. The people of Punta Colonet live in fear of local gang boss El Jaguar, a self-styled brujo, or witch, who practices dark magic. During an altercation between Lucinda and her grandmother and El Jaguar, the boss’s Rottweiler attacks Lucinda. Abuelita, a bruja herself, transforms into a puma and kills El Jaguar. She then falls under a magic curse that takes away her memories and starts draining her of life. The doctors assume she’s suffered a stroke, but Lucinda knows better. Teaming up with her fashion-conscious best friend, Eva Navarro, and their classmate Mateo Morales (El Jaguar’s abused son), the teenager gains access to another realm from which they can enter Abuelita’s fading memories. Back in 1967, Abuelita was a teen herself—17-year-old Herminia—working as a maid in Santa Rosalía, Baja California South. Bored with her regular job, she takes a one-off commission guiding American tourists to see Cochimí Indian cave paintings in the nearby mountains. Here she encounters Don Esteban Ríos, an unpleasant shaman who instructs her on the three types of “allies” (animal spiritual guardians) would-be brujos may bond with to regain power stripped from humanity ages ago. Herminia also meets, and begins a tumultuous courtship with, Don Esteban’s moody apprentice, Faustino Arce, a revolutionary. When this relationship sours, Herminia puts her powers to good use in a clinic for abused women and abandoned children, one of whom is the young El Jaguar. Can Herminia find the witch who’s been experimenting on local children? Can Lucinda uncover who cursed her Abuelita?
Barnes alternates chapters between Lucinda’s present-day perspective and Abuelita Herminia’s POV in the 1960s. The plot threads wind through an overarching mystery, which itself is artfully revealed. These dual narratives deliver plenty of revelations, not only in terms of plot twists or character development, but also through unexpected slants of perspective—such as when a chapter about Abuelita is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Lucinda, Eva, and Mateo. Barnes’ polished prose engages throughout, shading its minor characters and capably portraying Lucinda’s and Herminia’s two distinct teen personalities, as well as the familial culture of Mexico and the disquieting spiritual magic of brujería. Lucinda’s home life feels very natural (at odds with her relatives, though always respectful of them), as does Herminia’s coming-of-age in a Mexico influenced by both U.S. hippie culture and exploitative business interests. From the moment Herminia encounters lizards with their mouths and eyes sewn shut, the Latin American–flavored magic makes its presence felt. The result is an ominous, dreamy tale that grabs readers and pulls them into the multidecade story. The denouement, perhaps inevitably, does a slight injustice to the buildup, but readers will nonetheless happily immerse themselves in the journey.
A resonant and unsettling fantasy steeped in small-town Mexican culture.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781939354242
Page Count: 394
Publisher: New Myths Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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